While it takes a high level of confidence to attain the role of CEO,
John Elder III says a leader who thinks about the title too much will have a
tough time staying on top.
“When you get high-performance people,
egos get involved and that’s the beginning
of poor leadership,” Elder says. “It’s not
about you. It’s about the impact that you
are having on the people that are around
you that is really significant in this role.”
Elder has employed this thinking in his
role as CEO to lead Legacy Energy
Management Solutions to a 50 percent
increase in 2006 revenue over 2005.
Smart Business spoke with Elder about
the importance of respecting both your
customers and your colleagues, and why
it’s critical for a CEO to be humble.
Q: What contributes to a healthy culture?
Respect is a big piece. Respect for your
customers in terms of how you are treating
them, as well as respect for your peers
within your organization. It really establishes a culture where people can grow and
really enjoy where it is that they are working, which increases productivity and the
success of the whole enterprise.
If you have a good, healthy work environment that is in a good place culturally,
where people can just worry about the
right things, their productivity is dramatically increased, as well as their job satisfaction.
We started out very early with making
sure that the goals and objectives and the
vision were established in terms of group
meetings and taking the time to make sure
that it became a part of the organization
very early.
It’s always a part of the way that we all
communicate. It’s very much an environment in which people are encouraged to
look out for the best interest of each other
and their customers.
Q: How can a leader cultivate a healthy
culture?
Listen to other people’s ideas and do not
be closed-minded or righteous to your own
perspective on things at all times. Humbleness is incredibly important. It is what
allows people to relate to you. People like
to follow people that are real.
The head of the company is just another
role. It is a key ingredient and it’s going to
influence everyone. But once ego becomes
a component of that role, it’s the beginning
of a loss of effectiveness.
If you’re not willing to surround yourself
with people that are being honest with you,
then your effectiveness over the long term
is going to be greatly limited.
Verbally communicate that that’s what
you want to do. Tell them that you want to
listen and you want to hear it. They have to
see that in action. Then it becomes part of
the culture and the expectations, and now
you’ve got an environment that is really
healthy from a leadership standpoint.
Q: How do you find employees that can
work in this culture?
We’re looking for flexibility. They have to
have the core competencies that you are
looking for in terms of skills. But as important is will they fit in culturally in a high-performance environment in terms of
working with the others in the manner that
is demanded? The desire behind the individual is what is going to dictate how far
they can go in our environment.
Q: How do you ensure that growth doesn’t
spin out of control?
It’s all about communication. It’s something that has got to constantly be emphasized, or you’ll lose those battles.
The mechanics of how processes should
work are always getting changed because a
lot of other people have better ideas and
improvements on my ideas. From a cultural standpoint, that gets to be my domain.
That is the highest impact area that I can
possibly have. That is a stake in the ground
that is not changing. All the processes
around it and how we deliver goods and
products and services, those are all things
that are constantly evolving based on lots
of input.
It’s a constant journey in terms of communicating as much as you need to, trying
to do it at the appropriate times and recognizing it’s not going to be perfect. Make
sure that your people know your goals and
objectives. They have to have a lot of trust
in you that when they don’t understand
what’s going on, or until they understand
what’s going on, it’s all OK.
Q: What behaviors can stop a company
from growing?
Arrogance and lack of humility, especially when you start to have some successes
and you think you are a lot smarter than
you actually are.
Don’t get too enamored with your title. It
just means that you’re ultimately responsible for everything. Stay humble through
the journey and keep a sense of humor,
because you’re going to need it.
HOW TO REACH: Legacy Energy Management Solutions, (713)
524-0250 or www.legacyenergysolutions.com